A Humorous Journey Through the Hardest Time of My Life

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Month: January 2017

I haven’t been here of late because I haven’t had that much to say vis-à-vis job searching and frankly all of it is a bit too kvetchy. I decided to launch my own business at the end of last year after the straw that broke this camel’s back came down, and I am starting the new year with a renewed determination to make it work.

That being said, I have to earn some money so the job search continues. I vacillate between focusing on a full-time high paying gig and the Container Store. Although, truth be told, the only jobs available at the Container Store near me are for the 5 am shift unloading boxes from trucks, and put quite simply … I don’t want to do that (and, to be fair, I’m not quite desperate enough to have to do that).

My unemployment insurance has officially ended, and they make quite clear that there are no extensions allowed. This is good for the state, I suspect, because it means I, along with others, come off their labor roles as “unemployed” and their stats improve. Cynical, perhaps, but that’s how it works.

So, I got an email from the department of labor telling me that because I hadn’t accessed their JobZone website it would become inactive. Well, I don’t want to be inactive, so I logged on and did a search for jobs that matched my resume. Wanna know what types of jobs? Editor. Hundreds of jobs for the position of editor, some posted 6 months ago. What? Is there any confusion about why I hadn’t accessed the website? Not to mention the fact that my profession is clearly listed as “lawyer”, I mean… what?

When one is job searching, you are reluctant to say “no” to anything. You feel like your last interview was your last chance. You feel like every word out of your mouth is a mistake and every hope is futile. You read every article about everything having to do with job searching, but frankly if another person says “networking” to me I may scream. I KNOW! The energy it takes to keep yourself motivated while it feels like everything is working against you is astonishing. It’s all exhausting.

That being said, the next time JobZone tells me that my account is expiring, I’m just gonna let it. Like other sites it is a job aggregator, and I have enough of those to keep me occupied for hours. Tell me something I don’t know, JobZone… like, who is going to hire me and when, and then we’ll talk.

By the way, I picked a word to guide me through 2017. The word is “courage”.

“Read what my medal says: “Courage”. Ain’t it the truth? Ain’t it the truth?” – The Cowardly Lion, The Wizard of Oz